84 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE SPOTTED CRAKE. 

 (Crex porzana.)* 



Plate 22, Fig. 1. 



Although generally distributed through the British Islands in 

 summer, this Crake is more local than the others, and is nowhere 

 abundant, breeding in a few districts only. It is a summer 

 visitor to Scandinavia up to lat. 65°, and in West Russia up to 

 lat. 64°. In the Ural Mountains it is not known to have 

 occurred farther north than lat. 58°, or than lat. 55° in West 

 Siberia. It also visits Turkestan in summer. 



The nests found by me in Holland were large for the size of 

 the bird, built in clumps of rushes or among reeds ; they stood 

 nearly a foot above the level of the water, and were composed 

 of flat leaves of the reed, sedge, and other water-plants, and 

 generally, when built in the reeds, had a foundation of dead 

 broken reed. 



The number of eggs is from eight to twelve : they are usually 

 laid in May or early in June. They vary in ground-colour from 

 buff to very pale greenish-white, boldly spotted and speckled with 

 pale and dark brown, and with underlying markings of violet-grey. 

 The spots vary in size from that of a small pea to a mere speck. 

 Most eggs are finely dusted over the entire surface with these 

 small specks, amongst which the larger markings are somewhat 

 evenly dispersed. On some specimens most of the markings are 

 at the large end, where they sometimes form broad irregular 

 streaks joining the larger blotches together. On many eggs the 

 underlying spots are as numerous as the surface ones, sometimes 

 more so, sometimes less. The eggs vary in length from 1*4 to 

 1*2 inch, and in breadth from l'O to 0*9 inch. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE. 

 {Crex baillo?ii).\ 



Plate, 22, Fig. 4. 



Baillon's Crake has occurred in various parts of the United 

 Kingdom, and nests have been found in Cambridgeshire and on 

 the Norfolk Broads. To Central Europe it is a summer migrant, 



* Porzana maruettv — Saunders, Manual, p. 495. 

 t Porzana bailloni — Saunders, Manual, p. 499. 



